ROCKFORD - "All are welcome here: the alcoholic, the addicted, the stranger, the sojourner, the pilgrim, the poor. There is hope for all who enter here."

So read a sign that hung in 1964 on the storefront door of the Rockford Rescue Mission's first home at 116 Kishwaukee St.

The mission has relocated twice since then - 121 S. Madison St., then to Hope Place, 715 W. State St. - increased staff from one to 85, and expanded its services far beyond a warm bed, a hot meal and few encouraging words.

But it's not what has changed that makes the mission the first place so many in need turn to.

"The constant has been to change lives," Executive Director Sherry Pitney said.

This year, the mission celebrates five decades of life-saving service to greater Rockford. The mission will kick off its yearlong 50th-anniversary celebration Thursday with its annual "An Evening for Hope Telethon," a live fundraiser airing from 7 to 9 p.m. on WTVO.

This year's goal is $125,000.

Pitney opened an old tattered bookkeeping ledger Tuesday in her second-floor office and pulled out black-and-white photographs to help chronicle and illustrate the mission's origins and its foundation for another 50 years of service.

Humble beginnings

The Pitney name has been synonymous with the Rescue Mission for 49 years. The first year, however, is credited to the mission's founder, Ray Stewart, a 43-year-old recovering alcoholic who worked at Pacific Garden Mission in Chicago.

"He had a heart to help people who had struggled like he had," Pitney said.

Stewart came to Rockford with $9.63 in his pocket, found the "For Rent" storefront on Kishwaukee and asked the landlord if he could clean it up in exchange for six months' free rent. The Rockford Rescue Mission opened on May 1, 1964.

"Those were the humble beginnings of the mission," Pitney said.

In the first year, Stewart also worshipped at the former North Park Baptist Church in Machesney Park, where he formed a relationship with the pastor and wife, the Rev. Gerald and Nadine Pitney.

A year after opening the mission, Stewart turned over its operations to Gerald Pitney.

Shepherds of the streets

The Pitneys had set their sights on being foreign missionaries but found a need greater than they imagined at home.

Not all who pass through the doors of the mission are receptive to the mission's message of salvation through Jesus Christ. Nonetheless, Gerald Pitney wrote in the mission's newsletter, The Rescuer: "This work is a killer, and not for the faint-hearted. It's where heaven meets hell every day."

Over the years, the faces have evolved from transients and 60-year-old male alcoholics to male and female crack-cocaine and heroin addicts. The clients also have become much younger and from all economic classes.

Page 2 of 2 - "It's not unusual to have these 22-year-old guys come in and say, 'I've been in 30-day treatment programs 20-some different times already.' It just floors me," Pitney said.

Also, an increasing number of clients are from Rockford - people struggling with the economy, struggling with substance abuse and mental health issues.

The mission's next expansion or building project is likely to address the growing number of women and children looking for help.

"On any given day, our women's recovery program has a waiting list of 18 to 20 women who want to begin that life change, but we just don't have the beds," Pitney said. "That's a heart-tugger to tell a woman that there is just no room."

'Common cause'

As the needs of clients have increased, so have the mission's services.

The mission, Rockford's only 24/7/365 emergency crisis center offering food, clothing and shelter, is a state-certified recovery home offering a men's and women's 9- to 12-month life recovery program, a health clinic offering free medical, chiropractic and dental care, and an educational program.

"When we moved into this building in 1999, we found out how important it was to be holistic in our approach," Pitney said.

"You can give a person a lot of great information, but if they are feeling terrible, or have a toothache or can't see or have a chronic health condition, it just doesn't take like it would if a person were feeling well physically. That's why we started the clinic."

"It is probably the primary provider for shelter and long-term care in the region," he said. "They transform the lives of many husbands, wives, brothers and sisters into productive members of society."

Beach noted that the mission operates without government assistance.

Pitney said nearly $5 million is raised every year through contributions and in-kind gifts.

"My father-in-law, having been a pastor, he knew the benefit of having the church support and other churches embracing your work. We have about 160 churches who support the mission financially and with in-kind services and resources.

"It doesn't matter what the denominational label is, we just all come together for that common cause. I think that's really cool."